He says nothing has been decided.

New York Post headline on June 29 after the Jets added right tackle Morgan Moses – “George Fant could still play vital Jets role despite losing starting tackle job.”

Jets head coach Robert Saleh was asked about his right tackle situation on Tuesday, and make it crystal clear nothing has been decided.

“As far as adding Morgan, you can never have enough o-line and d-line in our opinion,” Saleh said. “I believe in that philosophy, same as Joe. He’s been a tremendous player for many years in this league. Adding him is a tremendous asset. As far as naming him the starting right tackle, George Fant has had fantastic OTAs and did a really nice job during minicamp. He has all the tools necessary to be a successful right tackle also. There’s a lot of competition from that spot and it’s going to be fun to watch.”

Sound pretty convincing.

If you want to make the argument that Moses is better than Fant, that is your right, but if you are starting a new program, and trying to install a new culture, how would it look if you just anointed Moses over Fant without competition. In a word – “awful.”  It would be counterproductive to what Saleh and Joe Douglas are selling regarding competition.

They won’t even name Zach Wilson the starting QB yet, so why would they name Moses?

One reason some in the press might be pushing this narrative that Fant has already lost his starting job, is that Fant won’t speak to the media, so there could be some payback here.

Let’s see how this turns out. By the way, Fant was put on the COVID-19 list today . . .

Speaking of the offensive line, it’s going to be real interesting to see which returning linemen fit the new scheme, the outside zone, which isn’t for everyone.

“You need to athletic, strong and fast,” said Jets guard Greg Van Roten on Tuesday.

Van Roten said the Jets ran very little outside zone last year under the old staff, so there is a learning curve.

But there is also a weeding out process. Some guys who were drafted or signed to play in the old scheme, aren’t going to fit the new one. That’s a fact, No reason to name names now. We will see how it plays out, but this system isn’t for all linemen . . .

Staying on the offensive line scheme, hat-tip to Mekhi Becton. He clearly worked really hard, from the end of the off-season program, to now, dropping weight.

While we don’t know exactly what he weighs now, you could see looking at his face, and body, that he dropped weight – my guess is 15 pounds. That is just a wild guess, but he looks better.

This shows you he cares about being great.

So often guys built like him never truly get this under control.

For a 22-year-old to leave the team for a month, and come back in much better shape, says a lot about the kid. He cares.

And as we written on many occasions, he was 380 at the end of last year. Let’s say he’s 360 now, that is still massive. It’s not like he’s going to be a small linemen now – he’s still bigger than most.

It still takes a “$25 cab ride to get around him,” to use an old expression from the late, great draft guru Joel Buchsbaum.

July 27, 2021

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